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Consulting 101 – So you want to fly, be free

An exchange from the distant past – “Oh, you own your own company, you must be on easy street.” Me – “Are you kidding? I’m the first guy in the office, I’m the last one out, I’m the last one to get paid.”

This April I will have been a self-employed consultant with my own company for twenty years. Without belaboring my three very brief, spectacular and utter failures at re-entering the corporate fold over the years let’s just say I really never was, am not cut from corporate cloth. The reasons I may elaborate on later in a separate post as I attempt to edumucate those who may be interested in how to be a successful consultant, whether it’s going to just be you, yourself and you for the duration or you have larger plans than that.

First, be very, very sure you want to do this. Know, not just think, that you have viable skill(s) and that there is a demand for them on the street. That you have the ganas to not just go for it, but to persevere and succeed. If you go this route I would issue the standard cautions about six months reserve saved in the bank, having a gig lined up before you walk out the door and, perhaps, most important of all, acknowledge the nature of the beast that consulting is and the path you are about to embark on.

The reserve piece is, should be easy. That is, unless you’re a trust fund baby, if you have obligations – spouse, kids, mortgage, bills, keep those in mind throughout your consulting career, to whatever degree you pursue it. For that piece and all future, subsequent pieces, I will harp on the following theme repeatedly – operating cash flow. It is the number one killer of all startups. I have seen more guys and more shops get nuked by it than I care to recall, including myself, but that also is a story for another day. As you conduct the business side of being a consultant ALWAYS have that in your head. Execute all agreements, all engagements, all business with that one thought in your head and ever on your mind.

On the issue of having a gig you need to decide in advance whether you want to be a W-2 with someone or you’re going at the corp-to-corp coming out of the gate. Both have their pro’s and con’s. The former, going through a larger broker, will provide benefits, some security and a steady income flow (remember operating cash flow). The latter will let you ultimately fly closer to the sun, but if you go that route I would advise retaining counsel, an accountant and even an insurance broker all. We’ll discuss business relationships beyond client contracts later, but just remember this – the lawyer, the accountant, etc. – they work for you, you pay them. You pay them for their expertise, but ultimately all business decisions are yours. More on this later as well.

Last, but not least, the nature of the beast. A number of cliches and platitudes come to mind, all of which apply and are true in the consulting world:

Expect the unexpected. Cash flow, travel, bad engagements, etc. The sooner you get Zen about all of these things and more, the better off you’ll be. There will be times that Murphy’s Law will prevail. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and all that jazz.

Shit flows downhill. If you ever have the misfortune of being party to a less-than-successful or, worse, spectacularly failed implementation (and in all likelihood, with any longevity you will run into one sooner or later despite your best efforts) you will learn that there are some amongst our ranks for whom assigning culpability and eluding accountability is an art. Go “New Jersey” on this – “it is what it is.” Again, be Zen. Karma always swings back ’round in the end. Do the best you can and in the end it will work out.

<profanity warning>”You fuckin’ gotta wanna want it.”</profanity warning> No, really. Someday I might tell the tale of who and where this came from, but I’m telling you now, if you want to go this path it should be a passion, a hunger, a drive, a desire, all of the preceding.

So what’s the moral of your story Mr. Peabody?

I’m not trying to scare you off here, but being an entrepreneur, an independent IT consultant, is not for the faint of heart. It’s more than just being technically adept. It’s good communications skills, good people (soft) skills, marketing (always be looking for gigs, even when you don’t need one), finance, operations. It’s being a business person. It’s just IT that you’re in the business of conducting. Know what you’re worth on the street, demand, not expect, professional courtesy and decorum, always strive to do your best.

And have fun. When it’s good, it’s really, really good.

Next week – Consulting 102, the first services or contractor agreement.

Yep, absolutely, building and maintaining that client Golden List of references will be somewhere around Consulting 104 or 105. First and foremost though, I want anyone trying to decide on embarking on this or not to know it is a business. Always. 😉